Unravelling the tectonic history of the Wandamen Peninsula, Cenderawasih Bay, West Papua

Unravelling the tectonic history of the Wandamen Peninsula, Cenderawasih Bay, West Papua

Lloyd White, Robert Hall & Indra Gunawan

Aims
The aim of this project is to investigate the suggestion that the Wandamen Peninsula represents a metamorphic core complex. We also plan to determine the timing of metamorphism and deformation of the peninsula to better understand the tectonic development of the region, as well as the nature and age of the basement that has been exhumed. All of this work has implications for our understanding of the tectonic evolution of Cenderawasih Bay and the Lengguru fold and thrust belt.Background
The Wandamen Peninsula is a mountainous promontory found in the south-western corner of Cenderawasih Bay, West Papua. The peninsula consists almost entirely of medium- to high-grade metamorphic rocks, which are anomalous and very different to the undeformed sedimentary fill within Cenderawasih Bay and the low-grade metasediments of the adjoining Lengguru fold and thrust belt. Relatively little work has been conducted in this region, but recent reports suggest that the medium-high grade metamorphic rocks could have been produced as part of a metamorphic core complex, and exhumed due to extensional detachments.